U.K. self-storage operator Lok’nStore Group PLC announced financial results for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2012. Operating profit rose 36 percent during the year to £2.14 million ($3.4 million), and revenue increased 18 percent to £12.77 million ($20.4 million).

The company had a preliminary annual dividend of 5 pence (about 8 cents) per share. The dividend payment was a 66 percent increase from the previous year’s dividend of 3 pence. The company was buoyed in part by refinancing a £40 million ($63.9 million) loan, increasing self-storage EBITDA by 3 percent to £4.97 million ($7.9 million), and securing municipal approvals for opening two new facilities next year.

“This has been another year of very solid underlying trading for the group, during which we have secured an attractive new bank facility and fixed the interest rate on the majority of our current debt, securing our funding costs at a historically low level,” said CEO Andrew Jacobs.

The company’s first full year of offering document storage also showed strong gains, recording a profit of £474,062 ($757,195) after posting a £43,493 ($69,469) loss in 2011.

The strong report prompted heavy trading from current and new investors.

“It is intended that the company's future dividend payments will reflect the growth in the underlying cash generated by the business,” Jacobs said. “We have a secure financial base, an excellent development pipeline and robust trading, which gives the board the confidence to propose this step change in the dividend.”

Lok'nStore operates 22 self-storage facilities in Southeast England. The company builds, buys or leases large warehouses or industrial buildings and rents storage units to customers on a weekly basis. Around 60 percent of the company's 7,000 customers are residential and 40 percent are commercial. Lok’nStore has more than 920,000 square feet of net rentable space, which is evenly split between freehold and leasehold.